‘One crime every hour’ in Scarborough

As North Yorkshire Police claim the region is one of England’s safest, the force’s latest figures show that on average, a crime is committed every hour in Scarborough.

While there was only a fractional rise in offending across the county last year, crime in Scarborough shot up by almost seven per cent.

And so far in 2015, crime in the town is up by almost 15 per cent on last year, with huge spikes in violent and sexual crimes.

Burglaries have also more than doubled in the town.

According to the police online crime map there were 9,358 crimes in Scarborough last year, up from 8,766 in 2013.

But in the region on a whole, offending was up just 0.2 per cent – or 75 more crimes – in a county in which there were over 30,000 incidents last year.

Those figures mean, statistically, North Yorkshire is the second safest region in the country.

Chief Constable Dave Jones said that across the region, his staff had demonstrated “sheer tenacity” in keeping crime under control and tackling organising crime.

He paid particular credit to how his force had made major inroads in ridding Scarborough of the “scourge” that is drug dealing.

“2014 was a momentous and challenging year in the history of North Yorkshire Police, with our new Operational Policing Model being rolled out and embedded,” he said.

“Our officers and staff have demonstrated sheer tenacity in tackling serious and organized crime, As well as the unstinting work of our Major Crime Unit to progress highly complex investigations.

“Operation Hawk also continues to go from strength to strength in preventing and targeting travelling criminals who mistakenly think they can prey upon our most vulnerable and rural communities.

“Together with the Police and Crime Commissioner and through effective partnership working within the county and across the region, we pledge that there will be no let-up in our effort to keep people safe and secure.”

One of the ways the police are aiming to help keep the public safe and secure, in Scarborough at least, is the formation of a new investigation hub.

The hubs are designed to streamline the investigative process and speed up justice for victims.

And crucially, they free up officers’ time, so once a suspect has been arrested, officers hand them over to the hub, allowing them to return to patrolling the streets.

The Scarborough hub officially opened on April 27, and is part of a wider project to transform policing, which will include pumping millions into technology.

Commenting on the low-level of crime in the region, Police Commissioner Julia Mulligan said: “We have achieved this despite meeting challenging savings targets and I believe we can carry on improving policing while saving money.”

“Neighbourhood policing is the centrepiece of North Yorkshire’s success and it that commitment which is clearly paying dividends.”

“These results are also testament to the relentless effort of our police officers, PCSOs and Special Constables, as well as police staff and volunteers who do so much to support the frontline too.”

The figures highlighted by The Scarborough News are from the police.uk website.

North Yorkshire Police’s figures are from a report published by The Office of National Statistics.

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